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You are here: Home / Archives for methane

methane

Fossil Fuel Companies And Renewables

June 12, 2017 By EarthWise

Fossil Fuel Companies And Renewables https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/EW-06-12-17-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-and-Renewables.mp3

There is a tendency to think of the changes in the energy industry as a pitched battle between fossil fuel companies and renewable energy.  There is some truth to this, but only to a certain extent.   The multi-trillion-dollar fossil fuel industry is made up of businesses dedicated to growth and increased profits.  And like businesses in other industries when major changes occur, fossil fuel companies may read the tea leaves and change with the times.

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Cows And The Environment

May 18, 2017 By EarthWise

Cows And The Environmenthttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/EW-05-18-17-Cows-and-the-Environment.mp3

There are many environmental problems associated with ruminant livestock and these problems continue to grow as the demand for meat-rich diets increases around the world.  One of the biggest problems is that cows emit methane through eructation (or belching) as they chew their cud.   Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, some 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.  More than a quarter of all human-originated methane going into the atmosphere comes from raising livestock.

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Americans And Beef

May 5, 2017 By EarthWise

Americans And Beefhttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/EW-05-05-17-Americans-and-Beef.mp3

There’s ample evidence over the past decade or so that Americans are gradually changing their diets, driven by health concerns among other factors.  But there’s one change that really stands out.  According to a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Americans have sliced their beef consumption by 19% between 2005 and 2014. 

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The Largest Battery Storage Substation

March 10, 2017 By EarthWise

The Largest Battery Storage Substationhttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/EW-03-10-17-The-Largest-Battery-Storage-Substation.mp3

At the end of last year, Southern California Edison turned on the largest lithium-ion battery storage facility in the world in Ontario, California.   It is a substation with 80 megawatt-hours of capacity, enough energy to power 2,500 households or charge 1,000 Tesla cars a day.

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The Methane Riddle

December 7, 2016 By EarthWise

The Methane Riddlehttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/EW-12-07-16-The-Methane-Riddle.mp3

Most of the blame for climate change has been placed on the growing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but methane also plays a major role.  Estimates are that about 1/5 of greenhouse effect warming is caused by methane in the atmosphere.  There is far less of it than carbon dioxide, but methane is tremendously more effective at trapping heat.

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Disappearing Arctic Ice

October 25, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Disappearing Arctic Icehttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/EW-10-25-16-Disappearing-Arctic-Ice.mp3

The top of the world is turning from white to blue in the summer.  The ice that has long covered the north polar seas is melting away.

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Finding Methane Leaks

September 21, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Finding Methane Leakshttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/EW-09-21-16-Finding-Methane-Leaks.mp3

The boom in natural gas drilling by conventional methods and by fracking has led to a spike in methane emissions from pipelines, storage tanks, processing facilities, and other parts of the natural gas system.   Natural gas is mostly composed of methane, so these emissions constitute waste and lost revenues.  But they also represent a serious environmental problem because methane is 25 times more effective in trapping atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide.

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The Hottest Month (Again)

September 15, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

The Hottest Month (Again)https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/EW-09-15-16-The-Hottest-Month-Again.mp3

NASA data show that the Earth’s temperature in July was the highest recorded since record-keeping began 136 years ago.  It was also the 10th straight month of record-breaking temperatures and was .18 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the previous hottest July in 2011.

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Waste In The Big Apple

August 4, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Waste In The Big Applehttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/EW-08-04-16-Waste-In-NYC.mp3

New York City, the financial and cultural center as well as the largest city in the country, is known for a lot of things:  skyscrapers, shopping, and pizza immediately come to mind.  But we should add another thing to that list.  Trash.

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Half A Degree

July 28, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Half A Degreehttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/EW-07-28-16-Half-A-Degree.mp3

The average global temperature is one degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.   There has long been a goal to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees above those levels.  But the Paris climate conference has set a more ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.   What difference would that half a degree make?

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Stop Putting Food Waste Down The Drain

May 4, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Stop Putting Food Waste Down The Drainhttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EW-05-04-16-Kitchen-Disposals.mp3

Should we really be putting food scraps down our sinks? Advertisements for kitchen garbage disposals assure us that these devices are a ‘hygienic way of eliminating waste and keeping odors at bay’ – but behind marketing materials questions remain.

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Tomato Energy

April 25, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Tomato Energyhttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/EW-04-25-16-Tomato-Energy.mp3

People continue to find new ways to generate energy from unusual sources.  A team of scientists at several universities recently reported on a new fuel cell that uses tomato waste left over from harvests in Florida.

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California’s Methane Leak

January 21, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

California’s Methane Leakhttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/EW-01-21-16-California-Methane-Leak.mp3

It’s being called the largest environmental disaster in California’s history.  On October 23, 2015, a massive natural gas leak erupted at a storage well operated by Southern California Gas in Aliso Canyon, outside of Los Angeles.  The leak has forced more than 2,800 families from their homes, and to make that worse, they have no idea when they’ll be able to return.

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The World’s Lakes Are Heating Up

January 12, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

The World’s Lakes Are Heating Uphttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/EW-01-12-16-Lake-Warming.mp3

Climate change is causing the world’s lakes to warm, with repercussions for fisheries and freshwater supplies. So reports an ambitious new study, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, and recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.

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Is Natural Gas Cleaner Than Coal?

January 7, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Is Natural Gas Cleaner Than Coal?https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/EW-01-07-16-Natural-Gas-and-Coal.mp3

The widespread use of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) as well as improved drilling techniques have created a major boom in natural gas production.  This unquestionably has positive economic impacts for many.  One of the important consequences of this is that natural gas is increasingly taking the place of coal for powering electrical generating plants.

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Composting Pays

January 5, 2016 By Nationally Produced Shows

Composting Payshttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/EW-01-05-16-Composting-Pays.mp3

Many people compost their food scraps and yard waste because they think it is the right thing to do.  In some places, like San Francisco and Seattle, there is curbside pickup available to have these organic materials composted.

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Plugging Methane Leaks

November 23, 2015 By Nationally Produced Shows

Plugging Methane Leakshttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/EW-11-23-15-Trees-and-Methane.mp3

Natural gas, also known as methane, is one of several “greenhouse gases” that trap heat radiation trying to leave the Earth. Molecule-for-molecule, methane warms our planet’s atmosphere about 25X more than carbon dioxide.

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Reducing Food Waste

November 6, 2015 By EarthWise

Reducing Food Wastehttps://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/EW-10-29-15-Reducing-Food-Waste.mp3

We have talked about food waste before.  It is a big problem in this country:  some 31% of our food supply is wasted, more than 130 billion pounds a year.  Food waste makes up 21% of solid waste in municipal landfills, which means that it accounts for the bulk of landfill methane emissions.  Methane is more than 20 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and landfills are a major source of it.

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Reducing Methane In The Atmosphere

October 20, 2015 By EarthWise

gas flare

https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/EW-11-04-15-Reducing-Methane.mp3

Methane is the main component of natural gas.  It is also a potent greenhouse gas, having 25 times the heat trapping ability of carbon dioxide.

[Read more…] about Reducing Methane In The Atmosphere

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